Design Narrative

Raffaella Trocchianesi(B)

Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Via Durando, 10, 20158 Milan, Italy
[email protected]

Abstract. The narrative vocation of design represents a crucial key for the inter-
pretation of some contemporary cultural expressions such as making history,
representing through different media, archiving and exhibiting.
This essay explores narratives in three different “dimensions”: narrative as a
scenario (that envisions new contexts, behaviours, uses, spaces); narrative as a
tool (that creates new ways of triggering innovation), narrative as a process (that
codifies methodologies dealing with complex issues).
Narrative – be it implicit or explicit - is at the basis of all design interventions
as a story is an authorising device, a tool able to systematise each element and
direct it to a specific direction.
Creating the strategies for a story as a design infrastructure means generating
attention and stimulating memory, as narratives trigger curiosity and cognitive
participation in the audience.
Words and pictures are at the basis of imagination, as they design means for
envisioning what is not there yet: conversations, dialogues, verbal and visual texts.
Cognitive artefacts are media devices able to articulate a narrative repertoire and
foster the process of innovation.

Keywords: Narrative · Design methods · Design Tools

1 Design Narrative as a Scenario

Narration is a crucial attitude in the meta-design approach as it encourages the process of
conceiving future innovative contexts of application. Meta-design means outlining the
design process: if the goal of design is to solve specific problems, the goal of meta-design
is to propose new fields where innovation can be expressed. Meta-design is also all the
preliminary research necessary for developing original solutions. Therefore, a scenario
is a fundamental tool in the meta-design process. It helps designers make decisions and
build consensus around a suggested model as a possible representation of the design
context. Indeed, the meta-design approach is a strategy to start a dialogue with final
users: through a process of negotiation, the narrative of new possible contents engages
the consumer by triggering a process of signification [1, 33]. Manzini and Jegou [2]
separate Design Orienting Scenarios (DOI) from Policy Orienting Scenarios, which
define tools and procedures. In particular, DOI represents a design tool able to share
articulated and motivated visions. According to these scholars, scenarios have three
main features:

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604 R. Trocchianesi

– they present a set of alternative contexts in which the subject of the project (a product,
a service or other) could find its collocation,
– they represent a variety of acceptable and feasible options,
– they are communicated through design simulations.
The scenario building activity supports decision making since it works as an intuitive
model for the reality on which one simulates to intervene. Scenarios must show “future
worlds”, which could be exist (plausible), and the ways with which they are communi-
cated must foster discussions and evaluations (debatable). Furthermore, they have three
main goals:
– describing and understanding activities and events,
– representing problems, needs and design constraints,
– depicting new activities, solutions and “stories”.
They are made of three elements: vision, motivations, and proposals.
The element vision answers the question: “How would be the world if?” This answer
is expressed through a story and a metaphorical picture able to represent the situation in
case a sequence of events takes place.
The element motivations: “Why is this scenario meaningful?” This answer rationally
explains assumptions, conditions and with which criteria the results will be evaluated.
The element proposals: “How is the vision developed and structured?” This answer
represents the different design opportunities triggered by the scenario.
The scenario is not a “picture” of a distant future, but critical anticipations capable
of orienting the future in continuity with the present [3].
To improve meaningfulness and communication, we can build narratives with the
subject of the project (product, space, communication artefacts… and so on), as well
as accompany and convey meanings by creating a story. A narrative can transform its
role from passive to active when it precedes the design idea, when it frames its mise-
en-scène and prefigures the scenario [4, 50]. Furthermore, it becomes an activator of
implicit contents and brings forward new contexts of meaning.

2 Design Narrative as a Tool

Several stages of the design process are based on narrative approaches. Sometimes the
design attitude embraces codified ways of using tools in narrative frames, while other
times it borrows them from “outside” fields.
Therefore, we will mention some design tools that are able to create new manners
of triggering ideas and unexpected points of view.
In the following lines, we will illustrate some extemporary strategies based on very
simple tools and other structured approaches focused on more elaborated tools and
specifically created for the field of design.
In the Grammar of Fantasy, Gianni Rodari [5] introduces an interesting
game/exercise called Imaginary Binomials that designers can apply as a pretext to create
a short story around a topic so as to trigger suggestions and inputs and develop ideas dur-
ing the brainstorming stage. For the binomial to be imaginary, a certain distance among
words must be evident, their combination must be unusual for the imagination to create
 Design Narrative 605

a relation. The methods to find the two words can be many (i.e., random draws or indi-
cations on a book…), hence even the most common words can trigger the imagination
because they are out of context and therefore interesting.
In the exhibition field of design, we can mention an interesting tool: the exhibition
score [6] (Fig. 1). The concept of the exhibition score breaks down the structure of the
exhibition into different parts thanks to a graphic representation organised in parallel
layers. This tool has been thought for those designers who must manage the whole
simultaneity of the parts that contribute to the mise-en-scène of an exhibition. Graphically
the exhibition score has a horizontal structure made of different variables (each line
corresponds to a specific variable):
– Content organisation that is the logics and order of the collection management (the
sections and the “file rouge” designed by curators).
– Spatial organisation, which determines the paths and the design paradigm of the
whole exhibit system.
– The exhibit of artefacts and displays, which establish a specific relation between
visitors and the content shown.
– The actions and structure of the interaction between visitors and the collection, as
well as among the visitors themselves, which determine the dynamics of the whole
visit as far as the quality of the cultural experience is concerned.
– The communication register and the narrative style expressed by the applied graphic
communication system, materials, colours, and technologies as well as the interface
of the displays.
– The length of the visit (total and partial) according to the articulation in rooms or
“episodes”.
This aspect is related to the rhythm, the pauses and accelerations that punctuate the
visit.
All parts of these horizontal lines correspond to the section placed above and below
in order to have a matrix reading.
No other creative discipline possesses such a multi-facetted range of instruments
for the design of space as scenography and exhibition design. They use the means
of architecture, theatre, film and visual arts to design distinctive and effective spatial
dramatizations.
Space is the central medium in which, with which and for which designers think and
create. Space – whether in the form of a set designed exhibition or a piece of architecture –
is itself used as an instrument and can orchestrate all other instruments in the integrated
sense of a total work of art. Four spatial parameters, on which all staged spaces are based,
constitute the potential of a space: physical space, atmosphere, narration and dramaturgy
[7].
Each of these spatial parameters refer to a specific quality of the space and, in
consonance with the other parameters, makes it possible to access content, get to the
bottom of things, ferret out the soul of a theme or get closer to a topic. The interplay of the
spatial parameters in a dramaturgically ingenious and stimulating setting in exhibitions
and architecture seduces the recipients into accepting the story and its message.
606 R. Trocchianesi

Fig. 1. Exhibition score (by Raffaella Trocchianesi)

Another tool related to exhibit design narrative is called Exhibition sound score1 .
The latter can identify and analyse how the sonic strategies are adopted in museums and
temporary exhibitions. It can also be used to design and verify new methods to empower
the cultural experience through sounds. Insights from field research are also transcribed
into this tool by text descriptions and sound sketches for analogy and analysis. Also in
this case (like in the previous one), the narrative infrastructure is developed in horizontal
lines; each of them representing a different layer of the visitor’s experience and the linear
sequence of the exhibition path.
Every line corresponds to a design variable:
– organization sections of the exhibition,
– typology of the cultural asset on display,
– contents of the sound narratives,
– exhibits and their sound equipment,
– typology of the human interaction,
– strategy of the applied sound systems,
– partial and total length of the visit.
This tool endeavours to redefine the perspectives of field research and data analysis
related to sound experiences conducted in museums. Instead of focusing on experience
with an exclusive emphasis on sound elements, the study examines sound-related strate-
gies at each touchpoint and communication channel throughout the exhibition experi-
ence and explores how these strategies can better contribute to narratives and increase
accessibility.

1 This tool was created by Yi Zhang and Raffaella Trocchianesi and is included in the PhD
thesis Sound design and narrative for museums and temporary exhibitions author: Yi Zhang;
supervisor: Prof. Raffaella Trocchianesi, PhD program in Design, Politecnico di Milano 2023.
 Design Narrative 607

The same logic is at the basis of the Exhibition Colour Script tool (created by the
author): in this case the aim is to verify the chromatic landscape of the whole exhibition in
terms of contrast or harmony, heterogeneity or homogeneity. Also in this case, informa-
tion is arranged horizontally: one line represents the sequence of the exhibition system,
room by room, through coloured sketches or pictures, the line below their correspondent
colour excerpt (Fig. 2). This tool is inspired by cartoons, where the chromatic relation
between figures and background and among scenes is crucial for the whole iconographic
composition.

Fig. 2. Exhibition color script (by Raffaella Trocchianesi) applied to Paganini Rockstar exhibition
by NEO

Furthermore, we can mention some tools applicable to all the stages of the design
experience, one of them is the Metaphor.
Metaphors are recognisable in narratives about field analysis and brainstorming (spa-
tial metaphors); in narratives about problem definition and creation of new hypotheses
(experiential metaphors); in narratives that argue design choices (popular metaphors able
to easily explain the project); in narratives on staging artefacts (persuasive metaphors that
build stories around the project); and finally in narratives developed through the interac-
tion with the final users (inter-linguistic metaphors which characterise user interfaces)
[8, 36].
In 2021, an interesting project, by Jeffrey Schnapp, called Museo Futuro tried to
envision nine metaphors representing new models of museum in the near future.
The project was developed with Daniele Ledda (xycomm Milan) and Elisabetta
Terragni (CUNY, Studio Terragni Architetti, Como), together with the team from Museo
Madre // Fondazione Donnaregina in Naples.
MuseoFuturo (“Future Museum”) is an experiment in museum-based education that
reaches out not to museum professionals, but rather to young professionals in a range
of creative and technical fields, inviting them to participate in the development of nine
alternative visions – expressed by metaphors – of future museums, while bringing the
Madre’s own permanent collection –which, as is the case with most art museums, is
mostly in storage– into public conversation.
The metaphors in MuseoFuturo are Museum as a Microscope, Museum as a Tele-
scope, Museum as a Stage, Museum as a Warehouse; Museum as a Place of travel,
Museum as a Toy; Museum as a Public Square, Museum as a Laboratory, and Museum
as a Computer.
An exhibition, made up of nine nodes distributed within the Madre’s architecturally
complex exhibition spaces, translated the strongest of the collectively elaborated cura-
torial interventions into an innovative experience for museum visitors. The aim was to
create a laboratory in which nine concepts of how future museums will be. The concepts
608 R. Trocchianesi

were not only explored but also instanced by means of curatorial interventions devel-
oped in small groups working with 18 objects from the Madre collections. The ninth
experiment involved working with the collections of a partner institution: the National
Archeological Museum of Naples2 .

3 Design Narrative as a Process

The narrative approach helps to develop methods confronting complex issues. In par-
ticular, we can underline different attitudes: using specific narratives to represent the
design process; using design approach to increase the creative process and trigger special
narratives.
For instance, the first attitude is well represented by Bruno Munari [9] when he uses
recipes to describe the design methodology. Indeed, each passage in “The Green Rice”
is a step of the design process from problem to solution. Problem definition: green rice
with spinach for four people; problem components: rice, onion, spinach, oil, ham, salt,
broth; data collection: has anyone ever made it? Data analysis: how did they make it?
Can I learn anything else? Creativity: What is the best way to blend all the ingredients
together? Materials: what kind of rice, pot, fire? Materials experimentation: tests, tastes;
models: final product; check: For four people it’s fine; executive details: green rice served
on warm plate.
To explain the potential of narratives in the creative process, we have chosen a case
study directly verified by a semi-structured interview with Laura Curino, who conceived
this project [10].
The show “Mani grandi senza fine” (Big Warm Hands) was chosen by Cosmit as
one of the Fuorisalone events. Staged in Milan at the Piccolo Teatro (artistic director
Escobar), the idea was to celebrate Italian design not through a conference, but a show.
The show was created by Laura Curino (actress) and Manolo De Giorgi (set designer)
and Lucio Diana (light designer and video curator).
In the “ritual space of theatre, exceptional voices, heads and hands” return to life, as
Laura Curino tells us in an interview. They make the dreams and ideas of extraordinary
figures, whose “signs” are still present in our homes and in the objects which accompany
us each day, shine. Design gives shape and meaning to the art of making: it innovates the
way of writing a story. In this experience, theatre becomes the way to defend the primacy
of the men who, half a century ago, in Milan, sensed the importance of innovation.
As Curino says, “In designing a theatre experience it is important to put the spectators
inside the story, as they can’t read it. The impact should be burning, the message should
come immediately or never”. To produce this result, the show was constructed with an
affective-emotional approach. In the show there is a particular focus on the physicality
of the designers: they are “personas”. The Latin root of the word “persona” combines
per (for) and sona (sound) and means “playing through”. The “persona” was the mask
used by actors and the voice that passed through the mask. To narrate the distinctive
character of many design masters, Laura Curino identifies some specific behaviours. For
instance, Vico Magistretti had a snob attitude, the Castiglioni brothers were continuously

2 https://jeffreyschnapp.com/2021/01/20/experimental-museology/
 Design Narrative 609

joking on their multiple identities, Zanuso was irreverent and masculine but had a good
relationship with children, and Sottsass was famous for his connections with the literary
and the avant-garde culture.
The show was built around significant objects used as narrative devices: for the
Castiglioni brothers, a mirror amplified their image as well as their relationship; for
Zanuso, an aristocratic armchair upholstered with chequered fabric seems to tell a lot
about his character; for Magistretti, the richness of his relationships is suggested by the
fact that the window in his study was always open; for Sottsass, who had a deep nature
but a simple attitude, the representative object was a Tuscan terracotta.
It is important to stress that in the structuring process of the show there were con-
tinuous responses between objects, their symbolic meaning and the word chosen for the
narration. As Laura Curino tells us,

“The notational tools that I have been using are extemporaneous: I have chosen
the objects and placed them on the floor, then I’ve listened to my body and started
to move among them searching for a possible gesture. It is a form of sound mask
and, depending on the findings, I just write, or better I speak first and then write.
Instead of speaking I am spoken”.

4 Conclusions

In these scenarios, the homo narrans is the interpreter of a widespread narrative, which,
according to Calabrese [11] is the significant attitude of the contemporary context. In
his opinion, this narrative provides conceptual comprehension models of situations.
If we define a narrative as an orienting process of transformation, design and the
change which involves one or more actors and focuses on dynamic directions, we can
apply this concept to several areas of design and, in particular, to the relationship between
design and narrative [10].
To better understand the relationship between design and narrative we quote the
Frame Theory formulated in the Gestalt field of psychology. It is based on the idea that
every experience is understood by comparing it to a stereotypical model. Recalling this
theory is a cognitive prerequisite for its readability. Emphasis is also put on the capability
of codifying the element inside this framework: neuroscientists enumerate these script
elements. If the framework is the semantic paradigm of a fact, the script is the syntactic
articulation. The scripts are catalogued as situational, personal and instrumental. Every-
thing is articulated according to a syntax of gestures and actions fixed in the cultural
tradition of a social context.
Cognitivists and neuroscientists classify the essential core of every narrative in seven
components:
– the setting: the “spacialised” and contextualised environment,
– the casual factor: that introduces an initial transformation in the setting,
– the interior answer: the actor’s motivation related to the setting,
– the target: the redesign the setting through something,
– the intention: from which the narrative is generated,
– the action,
– the reaction.
610 R. Trocchianesi

We find another interesting confirmation about this hybridization between design

and narrative in the study of Genette, who speaks of an architesto. This word clearly
recalls the comparison between the design practice and the narrative framework. In fact,
he defines it as, “All the general categories (kinds of subjects, ways of utterance, literary
genres…) that include every text.” [3, 12].

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